Track and field: Westerville hurdler wins silver in world championships

Tuesday

Aug 13, 2013 at 12:01 AMAug 13, 2013 at 9:14 AM

MOSCOW - Ryan Wilson proved that his eye-opening U.S. championship in the 110-meter hurdles in June was no fluke, taking the silver medal in the world championships yesterday in Moscow.

MOSCOW — Ryan Wilson proved that his eye-opening U.S. championship in the 110-meter hurdles in June was no fluke, taking the silver medal in the world championships yesterday in Moscow.

Wilson, a graduate of Westerville North High School and the University of Southern California, finished in 13.13 seconds, 0.13 of a second behind countryman David Oliver, whose time was the fastest in the world this year. Oliver is a three-time U.S. champion.

Russian Sergey Shubenkov averted a U.S. sweep (13.24) by overtaking reigning world champion Jason Richardson (13.27), who stumbled after hitting the final hurdle. Aries Merritt, the 2012 Olympic champion and world record-holder, was sixth.

“A lot of people were surprised at what I achieved at the USAs, and even here I’m not sure people were paying that much attention to me,” said Wilson, who has no corporate sponsor.

Immediately after the race, Oliver congratulated Richardson, assuming that he and not Wilson had won the silver.

“He goes, ‘Oh, I didn’t know it was you.’ He was so excited,” Wilson said. “I couldn’t have lost to a better competitor.

“… I was feeling really good after the semifinals. David and I have done battle a lot of times and we know each other really well. We ran in college at the same time. I know how hard he works and I’m happy for him. He deserves it. I didn’t execute some things in the middle of the race and at the end to win. I felt like I should be dipping with (Oliver) at the line. But, so basically it was 6 to 8 seconds of disappointment, followed by 10 to 15 minutes of proud excitement.”

Elsewhere, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica cruised to the women’s 100-meter title. Fraser-Pryce finished in 10.71 seconds, tops in the world this year, to beat Murielle Ahoure of the Ivory Coast. Defending champion Carmelita Jeter of the United States finished with the bronze.

Unlike Fraser-Pryce, Christine Ohuruogu never led in her race until the last moment of the 400 final to defeat defending champion Amantle Montsho by four-thousandths of a second. She set a British record to regain the world title she first won in 2007, dipping at the line to cap a great comeback.

In the shot put, Valerie Adams became the first woman to win four straight individual world titles. She has won 38 straight events and has won every major championship at least twice.

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